Can you remember very first cigar

[smokiejoe]

Hi im andy and i would like to tell you about the very first cigar i had when i were a young lad.It were on my hols in spain many yrs ago with my family,i was about 18 and never smoked before in my life.My father and mother always smoked and i used to hate the smell of cigs.it was the second day of our hols when i fancied a walk down on the beach to check out the babes and saw this guy fishing with his son smoking the biggest cigar i have ever seen so i walked over to him to see what fish they had caught and see what this guy had in his mouth.i gotta admit the cigar smelt bloody good and thought i would go and buy me some and give it a try.I asked the guy in the tabacco shop that i wanted a good,un and he sold me a handful of cigars,,romeo & juliet and a motecristo,and some cigars i cant remember what they were called and i headed down to the beach to try out my little purchaces.To start with there was a bit of cough and splutter but after a while i began to think that this was really a nice way to chil out.i spent the whole 2 weeks near enough trying out different cigars,which was great.The aroama of the cigars smelt really good and the cigars seemd to last ages. Ever since then i have been hooked.i find it is a really nice way to chill out now as my work can sometimes really stress me out big time.the good thing is i work for myself so i can smoke and work with out upseting anyone,which is good.If any of you can remeber the first time then let us hear about it.happy puffin.

[Montesmoke]

Well my first cigar was a henri wintermans when i was about 17 smoked a few here & there through my late teens.

I have been smoking cigars for the last 17 years, But my love of cuban cigars all started off when i went on holiday to cuba & went on the cigar tour my first box of cigars i bought was a box of 25 Montecristo no1 & a couple of packs of 3 Monte 2's,
i never tried a cuban cigar before then, only the odd henri witermans, & king edwards as my father used to smoke cigars (chip of the old bloke i spose) so i thought it be like tasting a wintermans or a K edward.
I remember clearly sitting down at a bar in havana square & deciding once my Mojhito drink arrived i would light one of these monsters up (Monte 1) the drink arrived so got the cuban stick out of the box, as i did the waiter clocked me came over & asked me if could cut/clip my cigar for me (just aswell as i forgot to buy a cutter !) he did he lit it up too, then it was all down to me.
I remember when i took the first few puffs of this fine cuban stick how much smoke & aroma came from it.
Then the tastes/flavours started to kick in perfect draw evenly burning WOW this is a cigar i said to myself this is what all the fuss about cubans cigars is! I knew then that it was infact true that cubans are the best cigars in the world absaloute no mistaking that!
I went back to the cigar shop & bought another 2 boxes!
I love cigars with a passsion i see it as your only on this planet once if you enjoy certain things this world has to offer i say make the most of them!! as your a long time dead.
So i do enjoy a good few cigars each day i will have on average 2-3 cigars daily, then weekends i indulge in a good few maybe 4-6 cigars in a day/evening i have been known to smoke 8 in one day.

Make the most of it i say to all of you!

Monte.

[smokiejoe]

good reply,i can also remember going out and having a pint of trophy bitter at 50p a pint and a couple of doncellas too.lol.they were bloody awful.lol.once you have tasted a cuban,other cigars aint the same..

[Montesmoke]

There are some divine Non cuban cigars too, that would even give cubans a good run for their money

[smokiejoe]

yes andy there are mate,i think i emaild you once from ebay asking you about some cigars i smoked a few years back,they were( vandenberg )i think either german, dutch or something,but these cigars were fantastic.They had simular taste and araoma of a cuban,real solid feel and good weight.where can i get these from as i did like them,anyone got any ideas plz.someone most know if its possible to get hold of them.

[Montesmoke]

I will ask around for you mate, but cant promise anything

[smokiejoe]

cheers buddie that would be well helpful.

[Deano]

I don't really know when I had my first one, but its only recently I got into them, after a trip to Cuba - like Montesmoke.

Was a Punch Punch that really hooked me. Was having a Mojito over Havana square at the Parque Central and lit it up, and after 10 minutes I was off my trolly. Superb.
(In fact it's the same exact Punch you can see me smoking in my profile pic in Cuba).

[smokiejoe]

i must get over to cuba,will have to wait till my kids get older though.but still keep the replies coming in everyone as i would like to hear some of your experiences.

[Robusto]

I remember a boy I went to school with used to smoke cigars. We were both about thirteen. I loved the smell and started to buy Castellas from a local paper shop and smoke them behind the shed at our house. My parents were heavy cigarette smokers so I got away with it! (I, myself, never really took to cigarettes).

My Dad was given a box of Havanas by a colleague and he didn't really like them. So from about the age of fifteen I would nick the odd stick from his box from time to time. I think they were Montecristos.

I have to say that my entire body went YES when I smoked my first Havana cigar. I haven't looked back since then. The combination of taste, aroma and a general feeling of being at peace with the world mean that I'll be in love with my humidor for life.

[smokiejoe]

I remember this one time on me hols in spain with ex wife and her family,we were out sight seeing in menorca and it had just been poring down with rain and the resort looked deserted.You could smell the steam as the sun started to warm the place up again,we were walking to have a look at some of the sights and i decided to have a look in one of the local tabac shops.As i just started to walk up to the shop i noticed that somone had dropped some money on the pavement ,this must of happend when the skys decided to open up and everyone ran for cover.So i had a good look around and couldnt see anyone in sight who might of dropped this little stash of money,so i thought it was my lucky day and the first thing in my mind was lets get me some box or two of cigars.The money was a little damp but the spanish shop keeper welcomed me with open arms.the ex wife wasnt amused when i told her i found some money and spent it on cigars as she had other ideas,probly wanted me to buy her a new frock or a pair of shoes,he he.well i got her a packet of fags what more does she want from me.great day though.never forget that one.

[Montesmoke]

Least you put the money to good use mate

[cohiba-cohiba]

Well guy's my first cigar was a cohiba, not so long ago, like Deano & Monesmoke by visiting Cuba all the time I got into cigars big time, I don't inhale though lol. My mate married a cuban 7 years ago and now lives Varadero, and has his own diving school out there. I was chilling on the beach and noticed that nearly everyone had a cigar in there mouth, I was like smells bloody good (ONLY PROBLEM I HATE SMOKING) however my mate smoked cigars but like me hates smoking, he said he does not inhale but tasted the cigar and it is relaxing.

Well I defo then had to visit the local procuce by visiting the factory near his home, well I was stunned to see as many cigars in my life lthey where piled up and stacked like bails of hay. So I simply thought I fancy buying some boxes and also getting a couple single. As a bonus for being fluent in Spanish I got freebies from the owner, who had to make about 5 phone calls to authorise free cigars to me. (think they thought I was a millionaire) buying the plushest cigar on the market.

After speaking with the co-owner (this is basically the manager of the factory as I found out, as nothing in Cuba belongs to anyone it all belongs Castero who believe it or not most of the Cuban population do not like. So to cut along story short I got my cigars and freebies went to the beach the next day and smoked some chilling in the sun. Cohiba in Cuba is expensive but not as much as here in the UK.

If you smoke the cohiba you are like a god the locals can smell them a mile away and then they will floke you for money and pass you notes about there family and how poor they are, but speaking the lingo you can hear the locals saying to eachother pass the note. Meaning pass the note to me or the tourist.

Then I simply reply in spaniero (the local spanish slang) and then they will leave you alone. But the cigars are mmmmmmm very tasty you do have to watchout for the local people trying to sell you banana leafs for cigars (well dodgy in a carrier bag with a slip around the cigar saying (cohiba made in habano) made in Havana.

There 700 different types of cigars in Cuba and I have only tried 1 but the one I like is the best and tasted excellent the one and only cohiba. If you are venturing to Cuba soon or next year I will give you the name of the factory in Guardalevaka where my Cuban friend hosey is the manager (I say friend as I email him regularly and speak to him via the internet) can you believe that he is prob 1 out of 200 people who has the internet in Cuba, due to complete poverty.

If you go you will see how the cigars are made, only cohiba in Cuba is hand rolled 3 x with the leaf to sustain the long lasting tase and aroma, hense why they are the bees and ees.

Well I know I have rattled on a little but that was my experience.

Chris

[cohibaIV]

Great input Chris, I found your post really interesting....
If you have any other experiences in Cuba, please share as I have not been able to make it there yet...But beleave me, once my wedding is over and done with I am off...heheheh

[Deano]

Is his name Hosey or Jos??!

By the way - the rolling is no different. I think you're confused about the '3 times'.
The tobacco used to fill the cigars is unique among Cubans because it undergoes a third fermentation process in barrels, not a third rolling.